J.J. Abrams Facts

Bet You Never Knew These 7 Facts About Star Wars Director J.J. Abrams

From Alias and Lost to Star Trek and Star Wars, J.J. Abrams has been a one-man cultural force for some time now, but what do you really know about this boss director trusted to shape not one, but TWO of science fiction's biggest franchises? We dug deep into his past to uncover some little-known facts about his career, personal life and tastes. Here's what we discovered.

He Started Young...Very Young

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Genius takes some time to incubate, and that's certainly true of Abrams, whose life behind a camera began when he was just eight years old. His parents had taken him on a tour of a Hollywood studio, and shortly after he convinced them to loan him their Super 8 camera (one of the most popular cameras ever made). The rest, as they say, is history.

Super 8 Homage

Wikipedia

In 2011, long after he had established himself as one of Hollywood's most important directors, Abrams wrote, directed and produced the film Super 8, an ode to his beloved science fiction genre and the camera that gave him his start. The movie's protagonist is a young boy attempting to get over the death of his mother by creating an amateur zombie film using — you guessed it — his father's Super 8.

He Took Care Of Business In College

Wikipedia

During his senior year of his undergraduate study at Sarah Lawrence in New York — a time when most seniors are slacking off, enjoying one last semester of freedom before the real world calls — Abrams was working hard on a screenplay, his ticket into the filmmaking world. That screenplay would become 1990's Taking Care Of Business.

Slusho

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Star Trek fans may be excused for thinking Abrams' signature touch is the ubiquitous lens flare, but he's got a far more pervasive and subtle calling card: a reference to a fictional drink, known as the Slusho, included in many of his films and television shows. Good luck finding them, though; they're often well-hidden.

He Brought Star Trek To The Oscars

Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment

There has been a long-standing civil war among geeks fought over which is the better science fiction series, Star Trek or Star Wars, and many a Trekkie was outraged to discover that the man tasked with reviving their beloved franchise on the silver screen had never really been a Star Trek fan — Abrams was enamored of Star Wars since he was a child. But Abrams' Star Trek did something none of its predecessors managed to achieve: win an Oscar, in this case for Best Makeup.

Tom Cruise Handpicked Him To Direct MI:III

Paramount Pictures

There are probably many ways to land a job in Hollywood, and I'm sure all of them are pretty awesome (see AskMen's own Peter Hoare describe his journey to become a screenwriter, for example), but being hand-picked by Tom Cruise himself must be among the most gratifying. It seems Tom took note of Abrams' work on Alias, and a short in-person meeting quickly turned into Tom handing him the keys to one of cinema's oldest (and most lucrative) franchises.

There's A Tribute To Him In World Of Warcraft

Bad Robot Productions

Abrams is often referred to as the "king of the nerds," and there's probably no better proof of that than the tribute paid to him by the folks over at Activision Blizzard, who saw fit to include a "Bad Robot" pet in their uber popular World of Warcraftgame. For those not in the know, Bad Robot Productions is Abrams' own production company. So if you're still exploring Azeroth and count yourself among Abrams' many fans, consider adding this tribute pet to your stable.